Experts Available to Discuss Disney-Twenty-First Century Fox Merger

Pitch

Early Thursday (Dec. 14), one of the largest media mergers in U.S. history was announced
when the Walt Disney Co. announced it had agreed to buy Twenty-First Century Fox,
including the historic Twentieth Century Fox movie studio, Fox Searchlight and all
the movies produced by it, for $52.4 billion.

Todd Chambers

The deal also includes Disney acquiring Fox's television studio and all the shows
it produces as well as the FX and National Geographic channels. Fox will maintain
control of the Fox television channel, Fox News Channel and Fox Sports channels. Disney
already owns ABC, ESPN, Pixar movie studios and the Marvel and Star Wars film franchises.

The deal is expected to open up Disney to the direct-to-consumer streaming market
for its ESPN and movie products.

Todd Chambers, the associate dean for undergraduate affairs in the College of Media & Communication and an expert in media economics and media management, is available to discuss the
merger. He teaches classes on media economics and electronic media operations.

Experts

Talking Points

The Disney/Twenty-First Century Fox deal continues a two-decade period of escalated
deregulation for the media content and distribution industries.

Any time a media merger occurs, the marketplace of ideas loses a voice. There may
be economic benefits for the companies involved, but the diversity of opinion diminishes.

Since the recent scrutiny of the AT&T/Time Warner merger, it's going to be interesting
to see if the same type of antitrust concerns will be voiced by the U.S. Department
of Justice.

Quote

"When the Telecommunications Act of 1996 passed, most of the initial focus was on
traditional media companies involved in industries such as radio and television,"
Chambers said. "As time has passed and companies such as AT&T and Comcast have expanded
their portfolios to include distribution and production of content, it's changed the
landscape."